This week’s random question is: Do you use your local library? What do you like (or dislike) most about it?

I use my local library — a lot. I’ve got a healthy list of items that I will put on reserve (influenced many times by recommendations from fellow book bloggers and other social media outlets as well as new entries from favorite authors) and then I also enjoy browsing the shelves to find something to read. Until recently, I had to have a librarian pull my holds off the hold shelf for me, but my library has started a new self-serve holds system. So far I have to say that while I like being able to come in and pick up my reserves myself, I kind of miss the few moments of interaction with the library staff. Most of them were very polite and it was nice to have a bit of conversation with them as I checked out my holds.

The one negative is that when it comes to series, sometimes the library doesn’t always get the first installment or installments of the series. They do their best but sometimes it doesn’t happen for a variety of reasons, most of which I understand. But as a reader who likes to go through a series in order (for the most part), this can be discouraging and frustrating at times.

I like that I can get ebooks through my library with just a couple of clicks but I also have a problem with getting popular books or the next book in a series. I usually just go ahead and buy the book on Amazon if there’s a long wait list because I have no patience whatsoever. It’s great to use the library for book club books since you never know if they’re going to be worth buying or not.